So I
wrote a
thing
where the words are staggered
and thereís a presumption of rhyme,
if none,
about a letter I tried
to write you
when my mind was still cotton
but it emerged
like ketchup does
when itís been too long
since you used the stuff
like the television
pictures
where a false heat is rising
from behind a fence of fries
and a soft drink
beads sweat
like some underfed model
on a beach
in the dead of winter

When all I really wanted to say
was something simple, if not unique,
demure
like
how are you tonight?
or bold
like
what makes you breathe?
to the point
like yesterday
was such a disappointment

It was loud
and hot and I felt
completely insignificant,
microscopic by the time I explained it
to the one person who should get it

So I asked for something smaller
in easy-to-swallow pills,
easy-to-crack
aluminum backs